Who Says You Only Zing Once?
by sonicking2004
Summary: Can two people, both of whom had their hearts broken in one way or another, find enough trust in themselves to once again open their heart to another? Is it possible to find your Zing a second time?
1. 1) The Meeting

**The Meeting**

_Disclaimer: this is a work of fan-fiction only, by a fan, for the fans._

Wayne and his family are traveling back to Hotel Transylvania. It's been a rather peaceful year, and he's looking forward to seeing Drac and the others again. Of course he heard that Mavis and Jonathan had returned from their trip so that they may celebrate Mavis' 119th birthday with everyone this year, so there was no way that he'd miss the chance to see the crazy-fun human again.

Nothing had been the same since that kid showed up unannounced last year. Since then, Wayne didn't feel so nervous around humans. Of course, he was still cautious. Just because that kid and the other humans were not the torch and pitchfork types, and even seemed to actually like monsters (who would've thought?), that didn't mean that those kinds of humans weren't still out there, so he wasn't taking any chances with the safety of his family.

Still, as he drove by the town where the Monster Festival was being held again, some of the fans saw them and asked if they would come sign some things for them. Wayne politely declined to do it right now, as he needs to get the family settled in first, but promised that they would talk to Drac and see if they'd like to come by later. As they continued on and evening started to fall, he looked over at his wife Wanda cradling the triplets she gave birth to a few months ago and wondered if life can get any better than this.

He was so lost in thought, he almost didn't see the shooting star until it was almost on top of him. Luckily, he managed to swerve in the nick of time, as it impacted the road where he would have been if he'd continued straight.

"What was that?" his wife Wanda said fretfully as the three babies woke up and started crying.

Looking in his rearview mirror, Wane saw that what hit the road was no meteor. It was smooth and capsule shaped, it's exterior a silvery shine that showed no signs of scorch marks from a fiery entry. As he watched, a tripod of legs emerged from one end and a protuberance from the other that resembled a security camera.

Or a cannon.

As it swiveled around, a mechanical voice said, "Scanning….scanning…" Then it fixed on their location and said, "Targeting monsters."

Wayne had heard enough. He shifted his car into gear and put the petal to the floor just as a brilliant ray had shot towards them, and the car leaped forward as the beam carved a crater where they had been seconds ago.

If he had been expecting that the strange and hostile machine would simply let them go, Wayne would have been severely disappointed. As it was, he was taken aback by the device's speed as it easily kept pace with the car he was currently red-lining.

As he saw the machine aiming at them again as the clinical voice announced, "Targeting monsters," Wayne swerved again to avoid another deadly blast. As he kept dodging the blasts, Wayne found himself grateful that the killer device wasn't able to fire very quickly. "Daddy?" his daughter Winnie fearfully asked. "It'll be okay kids," Wayne promised, hoping it would be true, "If we can get to the woods then we'll lose it in the trees."

But the strange device had other intentions. Changing tactics, the machine said, "Targeting," as it blasted the road in front of the car. Having no time to dodge this time, the car plowed into the crater, the front end crumpling into a ruined heap.

"Get out!" Wayne screamed to the others, who wasted no time arguing as they vacated the car and got out of the crater just in time to miss being vaporized along with the car.

As the machine took aim at them, Wayne saw that there would be no outrunning or out maneuvering it again.

"Wayne?!" Wanda asked him fearfully.

Wayne gathered them all into a group hug and whispered, "Close your eyes."

They all did as he said, the pups all whimpering, so none of them saw the shadow that was growing quickly on the device, nor did they see the turret aim straight into the air as it said, "Targeting mon…"

_**Krrranngggggg! **_The ringing sound of the impact was extremely painful to their ears, the force of the impact knocked them all to their haunches. As they all opened their eyes in startlement, what Wane and his family saw was unlike anything they had ever seen before and would not forget for the rest of their days. The machine that had been trying to kill them was now a crumped heap, having been smashed by a double overhead blow from what was possibly the largest monster Wayne had ever seen. Resembling a young human woman with white hair and wearing a skintight black jumpsuit, she was easily 1 1/2 heads taller than Bigfoot. Wearing the same fierce expression she had when Wayne first saw her, the woman wedged her hands into a crack in the machine's armor and ripped it in two with apparent ease. She then turned towards Wayne and his family and said, "Okay, you're safe…" She trailed off as she saw them clearly for the first time, then with a dumbfounded expression she finished, "…now."

Watching her expression, Wayne wasn't sure who was the more astounded and confused, this woman or he and his family. As he stared at her with his jaw hanging open, the giant woman said in bewilderment, "You're all werewolves. From up there, it just looked like you were all wearing….never mind. Are you all okay?"

Her question brought Wayne out of his stupefied state and he checked over his family, then announced, "Yeah, we all seem to be fine. Thank you for saving us from….whatever that thing was."

"Alien probe droid," the woman explained, "It probably was mistaking you for us when it attacked. Sorry about that." She then extended her finger in what was clearly intended as an offer of a handshake as she said, "My name's Ginormica, and you are…?"

Wayne grabbed her finger and shook if as he said, "Wayne. Why would this alien….thing be attacking you?"

"We're kind of this planet's primary line of defense against invasion of hostile aliens," Ginormica explained.

" 'We'?" Wayne asked.

He then felt a strong downdraft, then as he looked up his jaw dropped again. _Now __**this**__ is the largest monster I've ever seen,_ Wayne corrected himself. Descending towards them was what appeared to be the world's largest butterfly, with a wingspan that could easily shield Hotel Transylvania from view on _both_ sides. As it got closer, a figure leaned over the side of the creature's body and hollered, "Darn it, Ginormica! Why did you have to hog all of the action again?!"

"This family was in trouble," Ginormica explained, "I couldn't wait for Butterflysaurus to descend far enough for us all."

As the figure jumped from the giant butterfly and Ginormica caught him, Wayne saw that he looked a lot like Marty, except this guy was green. As he stood up and cracked his neck and knuckles, he conceded, "Ah, whatever. There'll probably be another one along later, and that one will be mine." Leaping down, the Marty-like creature extended his hand towards Wayne and said, "Name's Link, as in 'the Missing Link'."

Wayne numbly shook Link's hand and said, "Wayne. Wait….I'm sorry, did you say there'd be _more_ of those things?!"

"That's pretty much been these aliens' standard operating protocol here," said another creature from the back of the giant butterfly, who'd descended far enough to land. The creature, which looked a lot like a male human in a lab-coat who had the head of a cockroach, continued as he climbed off the butterfly's back, "First they send one probe, then when the attack fails they send two, then finally a mothership arrives. Then after we (although it's usually mostly Ginormica) send it packing, it stays away for a while before the cycle starts again. I'm Dr. Cockroach, by the way, and this is BOB," Dr. Cockroach adds, gestures at the blue gelatinous creature.

Bob, who is hugging several of the pups, says, "Oooh, they're so cute! Can I keep one?"

"No!" Wayne and Ginormica yell simultaneously.

"Aww," Bob complains dejectedly, then lets go of most of the pups. However, one remains stuck in BOB's gelatinous mass.

"BOB," Ginormica says sternly, "release him."

BOB looks up at Ginormica sadly, his lower 'lip' trembling, then the pup comes unstuck as BOB slinks off as the pup shakes the goop out of his fur.

"Sorry," Ginormica apologizes, "Don't mind BOB, he has no brain, you see."

"Yeah," Wayne agrees, "your friend does seem pretty stupid."

"No," Ginormica corrects him, "I mean he is pretty stupid, but I meant he_ literally_ has no brain."

"Oh" Wayne says simply. In the number of years Wayne had been staying at the Hotel, he'd never came across a group of characters as strange as this. And they said they work together to protect this planet from alien invasion? What could've brought a group like this together in the first place?

"Dr. Cockroach is right, though," Susan said, "Their backup is coming, so it's probably would be best if you didn't stick around here. Do you have a place you're staying?" she asks, then gestures at the giant butterfly as she offers, "We can give you a lift to where you were headed before the probe turned your car into a crater."

"Uh, um, okay," Wayne decided, "We were just headed up to the Hotel."

"Hotel?" Ginormica asked, confused, "You guys….are staying at a hotel?"

"You guys haven't heard…?" Wayne started to ask them, then decided that this wasn't the place to do so. He wasn't about to drag this out and risk letting those probes get a second shot at his family, so he said, "Yes, we're staying at Hotel Transylvania. Just go through the dense, haunted forest, over the tall mountains, through the land of the undead, and past a moat full of piranhas."

"Um, which way as the crow flies?" Ginormica asks.

Wayne considered for a moment before pointing and saying, "That way? North by North-east?"

Ginormica nodded then said, "Alright then, everyone climb aboard."

First on was Wayne's pups, which caused the Giant Butterfly to make a sound that seemed to be laughter, as if it felt that his kids' sharp nails to be ticklish. Then Dr. Cockroach and Link climbed aboard. Then Link helped Wayne get his wife Wanda and their three youngest on up, and Wayne climbed up right behind. Finally, Ginormica climbed aboard behind the butterfly's head, being careful to not sit on anyone, and said, "Okay everyone, settle down and hold on tight! Next stop: Hotel Transylvania!"

Then with a mighty flap of its wings, Butterflysaurus lifted off the ground and sped on its way.

* * *

Back at the hotel, Drac was pacing back and forth nervously. "Where are they?" Drac asked no one in particular, "They're way past the arrival time Wayne gave me before he left."

As Johnny, Frank and Murray stand nearby, Mavis says reassuringly, "I'm sure they're fine. The kids probably just had to mark their territory every three miles, that's all."

Drac, who wasn't reassured, said in concern, "I knew I should have sent the bus instead of letting Wayne drive his car this year."

As Mavis started to say something else, Frank said ominously, "I smell fire. Fire bad."

Taking Frank's words as a call to action, Drac announced, "That's it! I'm going to see what happened to them!"

Before Drac could transform, Johnny pointed and called out, "Wait! What is that?"

As Drac followed Johnny's gaze, his eyes widened as he saw what Johnny did: a giant butterfly was clearing the top of the tall mountains, making a strange undulating call as it did so.

* * *

As they made the final approach to the hotel, Wayne was almost sorry to have the trip end so soon. With his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted with excitement, he thought,_ Wow! What a rush! Riding in a car with my head out a window is great, but that's nothing compared to riding on the back of a giant butterfly, the wind in your fur! I can see why these guys prefer to travel in this style! _

Ginormica instructed the giant butterfly to hover over the bridge, with its back facing the hotel, because it was too large to land on it. As Wayne and Wanda disembarked first, Drac came rushing up to them with the others close behind as he said, "Wayne, what happened to you guys? Where's the car? And who are your….friends?"

Wayne, still panting, said, "Drac, old pal….it's a long story! I'll be glad….to tell it to you….as soon as….my heart stops racing. Simply put….they gave us a ride….after saving our lives! Weren't for them….we wouldn't be here today….or ever again!"

As the others got off behind Wayne and his family, and Ginormica gave some more instructions to the butterfly before standing up, Drac said, "Then I find myself grateful to your assistance, my friends! You have my…" Drac trailed off as he made eye contact with Ginormica, who had turned to disembark as well but had frozen as she likewise saw Drac. As a purple sheen flashed across his and Ginormica's eyes, Drac finished in a smaller tone, "…thanks."

Ginormica, still frozen in place, stumbled over her own words as she stammered, "It was….no problem. Comes with the job."

Drac, who seemed to have recovered his composure, said, "I am Count Dracula, although my friends call me Drac. I own and run the magnificent hotel you see before you."

As Ginormica started forward to disembark, the lines on her suit, which Wayne had noticed earlier, started to glow and she shrank before his large and disbelieving eyes. As she stepped off the butterfly's back as a human-sized woman, Ginormica said shyly, "I'm called Ginormica, although you can call me Susan, if you'd like.

"Susan," Drac remarked, "what a lovely name!"

As Wayne looked back and forth between Drac and Susan, he decided that this was definitely going to be one birthday celebration none of them would soon forget.

End of chapter.


	2. 2) The Tour

**The Tour**

As Susan introduced herself to the Count she felt her heart doing things that it hadn't done in the longest time. Not since Derek had she felt the way that she felt right now._ Since **Derek?**_ her mind screamed at her,_ Shouldn't **that** tell you something? Besides, this is Count **Dracula!** You know what the stories say that he's like, what he can do! Get ahold of yourself!_

Her friends, who had apparently been stunned by the revelation of the Hotel manager's name, snap out of it as Dr. Cockroach says excitedly, "Dracula? You're _the_ Count Dracula?"

Link, who's trying to maintain a veneer of cool calmness, says, "Name's Link, I'm a big fan of your work. Not that I've ever actually _seen_ your work, mind you, but I've read all the stories, and even managed to watch a couple of movies when I'm not too busy saving the world"

"_Ugh!_ The movies, don't even get me started on the movies!" Drac says in a disgusted tone, "Because of_ them_, everybody thinks I say, 'bleh bleh bleh'!"

Dr. Cockroach, who apparently calmed himself down some, decided to try and impress the Count as he said, "Actually, I blame Bela Lugosi's portrayal of you for that misconception. The name's Dr. Cockroach, PHD."

"Hi, I'm BOB," Bob introduced himself, "I just love your costume! That cape and those fangs; why, you look just like the real Dracula!"

Drac, looking exasperated, said blandly, "I _am_ the real Dracula."

"That accent's excellent too!" Bob said, apparently not paying attention, "Say, is there a costume party later, cause I think that guy dressed as Frankenstein may give you a run for your money. Say, I should go find me a costume too!"

As BOB slinks off towards the hotel doors, laughing in delight, Susan apologized, "Don't mind Bob, everyone. Because he has no brain, he's not that smart."

_What are you doing?_ Her mind yelled at her again, _You know who he is! Even if 90% of the stories about him are made up, everything about this guy screams "total player"! Besides you have a job to do, so get back to it!_

"Well," Susan started, feeling somewhat disappointed, "I'm glad we were able to get your friends here safely, but we should get going now." Susan then hollered over to BOB, "Come on, BOB, let's go!"

"Aww," BOB complained as he turned around and headed back in the other direction, "I wanted to see the costume party."

"Please, my friends," Drac pleaded, "you must allow me to thank you properly for saving Wayne and his family. I'm sure you're exhausted, and it's getting late, so allow me to treat you to a couple of nights at the hotel, on the house."

"Wow!" exclaimed Dr. Cockroach, "It's been too long since I've stayed at a hotel!"

"Heck, I've never stayed at one!" remarked Link, "What do you say, Susan?"

"Yeah, _Pleeeasssse_?" begged BOB, "I wanna go see the costume party!"

"Well," Susan conceded, "Maybe one night wouldn't hurt."

"Yayy!" BOB cheered.

As Susan started to follow, she heard her inner-ear communicator go off and the static-filled voice of General W. Monger say, "This is Monger contacting Ginormica, can you read? Over."

"Just a minute," Susan whispered to Drac, then she fingered the communicator in her right ear and said, "This is Ginormica, I read you. Over."

"I'm unable to determine your location," Monger stated, "What's your status?"

Ginormica replied, "We encountered a probe droid at coordinates 46.249 by 22.298 and destroyed it, then evacuated a civilian family who happened to be in the area and got them to a hotel they were staying at, since their vehicle was destroyed. You may want to send a clean-up crew over there before any busybody civilians come around, it's a bit of a mess over there."

"Aww, Ginormica," Monger said, sounding disappointed, "couldn't you leave this one more or less intact? So far, the only things I have at the farm is a bunch of useless scrap!"

"The family was in danger," Ginormica answered, "There was no time for subtlety."

Monger sighed, then said "Very well, radio your coordinates and I'll rendezvous with you to discuss the next point of attack."

She looked at the GPS locator that was sewn into the material of the sleeve of her outfit. Even though the picture was fuzzy, she was able to see the coordinates.

_Just tell him,_ her mind said. Instead, Susan exaggerated, "Sorry sir but there seems to be something in the area that's interfering with my GPS. I'm unable to make out a location."

"In that case," Monger said, "I'll radio you my location and…"

"With all due respect, sir," Ginormica interrupted, "we've been doing the same thing over and over again and it's been getting us nowhere. I do believe that a change in tactics is in order."

"What did you have in mind?" Monger asked.

"I believe that the attacks that have been carried out by the aliens were designed to determine our strengths and weaknesses. Thus far, All we've been doing is attacking them head on, which I feel only serves to help them towards those ends," Ginormica explains, "I think it's time we got some info on _them_ for a change. If you have your intelligence operatives observe the droids and their masters rather than having us attacking them from the start, then we may be able to learn what their ultimate plans are, and we'd be better able to put a stop to them for good."

"And what if they were to attack a civilian population?" Monger asked.

"If they're in danger of doing so," Ginormica stated, "then you can inform us and we'll be there to stop them, as always."

"Very well then," Monger conceded, "I'll trust your judgment on this. We'll observe and report. Maintain radio contact and be ready to move on a moment's notice. Monger out."

Susan fingered the disconnect on her communicator then turned to her friends, who are staring at her anxiously, and said, "We can stay."

As her friends cheered and headed towards the hotel along with Drac's friends, Drac asked Susan, "Your GPS seemed to be working well enough, why didn't you tell him where you are?"

Susan hesitated for a moment before saying, "I have my reasons. Monger may eat, breathe and live for fighting aliens, but the rest of us have personal lives too."

Drac smiled, as if this answer satisfied him, then gestured for her to follow as he headed towards the hotel.

As she smiled and nodded, her mind grunted in disgust, _Ugh, you're hopeless, girl!_ to which she sighed in response,_ I know._ Then Susan, along with the raven haired girl and the red haired boy with the backpack, followed Drac into the hotel.

* * *

As Drac led Susan into the hotel, he proudly announced, "Welcome, my friends, to Hotel Transylvania!"

As the newcomers looked around in wonder, Drac felt a special glow at the look of wonderment and delight that was on Susan's face as she took it all in. "Established in 1898," Drac said, continuing his description, "this place was created to be a safe haven during the dark days, when humans hunted us monsters down just for being what we are. Now days, it serves as a getaway location, where monsters from all walks of life can relax and just be themselves."

"Wow!" Susan said as she looked around, "This place is so elegant!"

"So many monsters just walking about! I've never seen anything like it before in my life!" Dr. Cockroach said.

"Really?" Drac said, "Where have you been?"

"Mostly defending the planet from alien invasions," Dr. Cockroach answered, "Before that, a cell."

"A 'cell'?" Drac asked.

Before Dr. Cockroach could explain, Susan rushed over in front of him and interjected, "I wouldn't try to figure out the Doc's 'mad scientist' speech. I've worked with him for 2 years, and my attempts to do so had resulted in more than a few blown blood vessels in my brain." She then whispered over her shoulder to the Doc, "Ixnay on the ell-cay!"

Drac raised his eyebrows questioningly, and he saw that Jonathan also had his eyebrows raised, likely just as confused as to what Susan just said as he himself was. Before Drac could ask Susan what language she was speaking in, their blob friend, BOB, hollered from the 2nd floor landing, "This place is great! So when's the costume party starting?"

Feeling the beginning of a headache coming on, Drac was about to try again to explain to the brainless blob that they weren't wearing costumes when Johnny spoke up and said thoughtfully, "Say, that isn't a bad idea!"

"Excuse me?" Drac asked.

"I mean for as a theme for Mavis' birthday party," Johnny explained. When Drac still looked confused, Johnny continued, "Just hear me out: Whenever you have these parties, everyone dresses up but comes as themselves, right?" When Drac nodded, Johnny continued, "Well, that causes everyone to behave in a certain way, because they put certain constraints on themselves, on the way they believe they're supposed to present themselves. But at a costume party, that all changes. Because they're not coming as themselves, but rather as someone else, they can feel free to let their hair down, to relax and just have fun. Remember when we were planning Mavis' last birthday party, and I pretended to be you while you pretended to be Wayne?"

"You what now?" Wayne asked Drac as he cracked up at the memory.

Drac waved him off as he wiped tears of mirth from his eyes. "Okay, Jonathan," Drac conceded, "point taken, but I'd have to run the idea by the guests: see what they'd like to come as, find out if any of them would need anything for their costumes, then we'd have to get them somehow."

"You know, the Monster Festival is in town this week," Johnny suggested, "Perhaps once you have your list, you could go down there and ask if they'll lend you anything off it from their spares?"

"That reminds me," Wane said, "before our harrowing ordeal we had swung by the town and the Festival-goers were wondering if we could make an appearance later."

"Sounds like an idea," Drac agreed, "Once I've talked to everyone and gotten their ideas, then I'll head down to the town and ask if they have anything to spare from the list; then, if you're up for it, my friends, I'll let them know that we'll be down after the party to show them what we came up with."

"Sure!" agreed Wayne.  
"Sounds like a blast!" Murray seconded.  
"Yeah, that'd be fun!" Frank said.

"Frank!" Eunice's grating voice echoed down the hall, "Are you going to help me unpack or what?"

Frank cringes as he responds, "Coming dear!" then he turns to the others and says apologetically, "I gotta go. Wayne, Wanda, glad you guys made it here okay."

As Frank hurries to his room, Drac turns to Susan and the others and says, "While he's helping his wife get settled, why don't I give you guys a quick tour?"

* * *

When they get to the outdoor pool, Drac says, "…and here we have our pool. On Friday evenings we have our outdoor buffet here, where guests can create a tasty dish from a wide variety of monstrous options, and then enjoy it under the st…"

"What?!" Eunice's distressed voice interrupts as it echoes from within the hotel, "Why didn't you mention that to me sooner, Frank?!"

_Uh-oh!_ Drac thought. Sensing what was going to happen, Wanda hands off the three youngest pups to Wayne as the sound of Eunice thundering through the halls grew steadily louder. Then she burst through the pool's doors and wrapped Wanda in a crushing embrace as she said, "Oh Wanda, I'm so sorry to hear what had happened! Are you and the pups okay? Who attacked you? Was it humans?"

As she gently extricated herself from her friend's hug, Wanda said, "It's okay Eunice, we're all just fine, although I can't say the same for our luggage. And i…"

"And you!" Eunice yelled as she turned on Drac. As he recoiled under her withering glare, Drac saw Eunice wrap his daughter in a protective embrace as she asked scornfully, "What did you think you were _doing?_ Did you _want_ to be barbecued by the sun? Were you_ trying_ to leave your only daughter an orphan?"

Drac cringed under Eunice's tirade. Just what had Frank told her about what happened?

As Susan looked at Mavis in confusion, she asked, "You are Dracula's….daughter?"

Eunice then let go of Mavis and placed her hands on her hips as she said, "She is, and who would you be?"

Wanda then interposed herself between Eunice and Susan as she explained, "Eunice, this is Ginormica. She's the one who saved us from the alien probe."

" 'Ginormica' huh?" Eunice asked skeptically, "She doesn't look so ginormic to me."

Susan smiled slightly, then backed up a couple of steps, concentrated, then the patterns in her suit glowed and she grew to over 49 feet in height, startling Eunice and what few guests were in the pool at the time. "How about now?" Susan asked Eunice, a hint of a laugh in her voice.

"Wow," Eunice exclaims, "aren't you full of surprises?" As Susan returns to human size, Eunice asks her, "But Wanda said that they were attacked by an alien probe? But why would it do that?"

"I'm not too certain," Susan said, "But I believe that the droid's sensors mistook Wanda's family for us."

"Well whatever the reason, you saved my friend and for that I'm grateful," Eunice said as she wrapped Susan in a crushing hug which had her wheezing out, "Easy now!" Once Susan was released and she was able to catch her breath, she explained, "Sorry, but I'm not as indestructible in this form."

At that statement, everyone laughed and the tour continued.

* * *

Later, after Drac had shown them the major areas of the Hotel, he showed them to the rooms that he was offering them.

"…so if any of you should happen to need anything, please feel free to call using the phone in your room," Drac explained.

"Thanks," Link said.  
"You're quite the gentleman," Dr. Cockroach complemented.  
"Oh boy!" BOB exclaimed as he rushed into his own room.

"Uh," Susan said uneasily, "you may want to disable the phone in BOB's room."

Drac considered what Susan suggested, then turned to a suit of armor and ordered, "Do it!" to which the armor replied, "Yes sir!" Seconds later, a clanging sound is heard from within BOB's room followed by the sound of something being crushed, to which BOB's voice is heard saying, "Hey! …Aww!"

As Susan chuckled, Drac bowed and said smiling, "Sleep well, Susan."

"Thanks, Drac," Susan replied as she turned and headed for her own room, then she turned and smiled as she shut her door.

As Drac headed back up the hall and went over a mental list of who would be up at this time that he could talk to about the costume party idea, he couldn't help but think about his strange reaction to this Susan/Ginormica character. Why had he felt nearly panicked when she'd announced that they had to leave? He's had guests come and go before, but he'd never felt like that when it came time for the latter.

And why did he go so far out of his way to make her feel welcome? He'd always made sure that his guests were happy, doing things like having one of the armors show a guest the way to somewhere they needed to go, but he never personally gave anyone other than his close friends a tour.

He thought back to when he saw her clearly for the first time. When he saw her face, it felt almost like….but no, that was impossible. Better than almost anyone, he himself knew that you only Zing once in your life, and he already had his Zing with Martha. And even though this woman had a strange gentle kindness despite her obvious strength, she was definitely not Martha. It's simply gratitude for her heroic actions that I'm feeling, Drac decided as he started to talk to one of the guests about Mavis' party, that's all it is.

* * *

As Susan laid on the bed, which was much more comfortable than her cot back at Area 50-something, she found herself unable to sleep. Her thoughts seemed to be tumbling out of control, thoughts of Drac and how he made her feel.

She didn't know why she couldn't get him out of her head. She'd had other guys hit on her since she'd first saved the world and made her break-up with that jerk Derek official, but she'd never had any problem blowing any of them off before.

But Drac hadn't hit on her, unless you consider his complimenting her name that. He was simply nice to her, but that was all it took for him to get a hook in her that she almost didn't want to have removed.

Susan had just decided to call Butterflysaurus, feeling that a flight through the cool night air might help clear her head, when there was a knock on the door to her room. Quickly running her fingers through her hair, she opened the door to see the curly red-haired young man standing there. "Oh, hi!" Susan said in surprise, "It's Jonathan, right? You know, you didn't have to go along with BOB's costume party belief. We probably won't be here long enough for him to realize that's not the case after all."

"That's not the reason I'd suggested it, I really did think it was a good theme for Mavis's birthday." Johnny countered, then continued, "Anyway, that's not why I'm here. The truth is I know you guys are hiding something. I'd heard that Dr. Cockroach guy mention about being in a cell, and I don't buy your explanation about it being merely 'mad scientist speech'. Besides, I can understand Pig Latin."

"Oh," Susan said simply as she cursed herself. Why did this kid have to be one of the observant ones?

Looking at the suit of armor in one corner of the room, Jonathan said to it, "Why don't you go hang out down the hall for a bit?"

"Are you sure sir?" the armor asked.

"Yeah," Johnny confirmed, "I'll call if I need you."

"As you wish, sir," the armor said before leaving the room.

Once the armor's steps receded down the hall, Johnny began, "Here's what I think, based on what little I had to put together: You and the Doc were both locked up in a cell until some time ago, possibly the others too. Now you're working together, possibly with the guy who had locked you guys up in the first place, to defend this planet against alien attacks."

Susan didn't confirm how close this guy had come to the truth, but did not try to deny it either.

"Now I don't know the reason you decided to stick around, even if it's only for one night," Johnny confessed, "or why you lied to your commander about not being able to determine the coordinates for this place, but I do know that Drac is just starting to get over the heartbreak of the death of his wife, Mavis's mother, and I don't want to see it getting broken again. Besides, I'm not too thrilled about the idea of Mavis ending up in one of your cells."

"It's not really like that," Susan defended herself, "I mean, the ideas you came up with weren't totally wrong, but the conclusion you drew was off."

When Johnny raised his eyebrow questioningly, Susan sighed and said, "You best have a seat, it'll be easier if I start from the beginning."

Once Johnny pulled up a chair and sat down, Susan sat on the bed and began, "For me, it all started on what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life: my wedding day…"

End of chapter


	3. 3) Bonding

**Bonding**

"…and then we saw this family being attacked by one of the alien probes that have been staging attacks on us as of late," Susan finished the story she was telling Johnny, "We were going to attack it as one, but when their car was destroyed, I knew that we couldn't wait for Butterflysaurus to get low enough for the others, so I decided to take it on myself. The rest you know."

"Wow!" Johnny remarked, "You guys are like bona fide heroes! I still can't believe that you work for that creep that locked you guys up in the first place, but what you guys do is awesome!"

"Thanks! And General Monger isn't that bad. After all, when he was ordered by the President to lock us back up after our saving San Francisco from the first alien probe resulted in severe damage to the Golden Gate Bridge, he defied those orders and kept his promise to set us free after our help."

"But you still lock up monsters?" Johnny asked.

"Only the ones who can't remain secret or endanger the populace," Susan clarified, "Believe me, if we'd known there was an alternative, if I knew that a place like this, I would've advocated it a long time ago. In fact, I think that I'll recommend to the General that we begin to release the monsters and relocating them here, so you guys may teach them to steer clear of human populations."

"I thought that we humans had changed," Johnny said remorsefully.

"I'm sorry," Susan said, "but the main difference between humans now and the way they were 1000 years ago is that today they don't believe that monsters exist, and a large part of that is due to actions taken by government agencies like the one that grabbed me and my friends. Tell me Johnny, what was your first reaction when you found out about this place?"

"Once I found out that the guests weren't wearing costumes?" Johnny answered, "I guess I kinda freaked out."

"Right. Now imagine that reaction in a large city full of people," Susan continued, "Now you're proof that we've evolved enough as a species that we are capable of understanding and making friends with monsters, but you had time to realize that we are not as bloodthirsty as we've been portrayed in stories and folklore. If the general populace found out too much too fast about the existence of monsters, that my friends and I aren't merely anomalies, we may end up seeing the return of angry mobs, only they would be armed with much worse than torches and pitchforks."

"I guess," Johnny said dejectedly, "I had just thought, from the way that Drac described his encounter with the people in town during the Festival…"

"You mean the Monster Festival?" Susan asked, to which Johnny nodded, "Well, fanboys and girls have been considered almost been a different breed than the common human anyway. I imagine that it was their extreme love of monster stories that makes them more ready to accept monsters as people. For the rest of the human population, though, I think that it will take more time, and a slow exposure to the existence of monsters, for them to accept us and not try to destroy us."

"I see," Johnny said solemnly, "Do you mind if I ask you something?" When Susan nodded her ascent, he continued, "I noticed that you've used the term 'we' in reference to both humans and monsters. I know from your story that you started life as a human, but what do you consider yourself as now?"

After considering for a moment, Susan answered, "I guess I would say both: human and monster. As you said, I was originally human, and my parents still are, so I can't throw away that part of me. On the other hand, I can't deny that I'm so much more than human now, and while I had the opportunity to let go of this thing that makes me different, the fact is that I don't want to! I like having the strength to help others: it made me so happy to help your friend Wayne and his family, even after I found out he was a monster too! Plain old Susan might have simply called 911 if she saw a scene like that, or she would have run and hid when she saw a monster or an alien. So I'm proud to say I'm both a human and a monster, and I would not change that for anything!"

Johnny nodded as if he accepted that answer, then he stood and stretched as he said, "Well, I better let you get some rest, and I have a late-night date with Mavis, after which we're going to watch the sun rise together."

"Wait, isn't she a vampire like Drac?" Susan asked with concern, "Wouldn't the sun be, like, really bad for her?"

"No worries," Johnny assured her, "It's pretty shaded in our usual spot, and we get inside well before the sun has a chance to reach there." As Johnny started to leave, he said over his shoulder, "And you don't have to worry: I won't tell Drac anything that you shared with me, 'though I think you should."

Susan hesitated before saying, "Maybe after the party."

Johnny nodded then added, "For what it's worth, I think that Drac likes you too, and you are much better off without that weasel Derek."

"Thanks, goodnight!" Susan said before lying back down and shutting her eyes, trying not to think about how she felt about Drac, or how he might react if he were ever to find out about some of the things she'd discussed tonight.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the clearing where Ginormica had destroyed the droid earlier, two other droids were scanning the area around them, but not taking any apparent aggressive actions, not even against the military personnel who are observing them from the concealment of the trees.

"Well, bust me down and call me Private, Ginormica was right!" General Monger said quietly, "Those alien robots aren't doing anything but looking around for her and the others!" Then he scowls down and smacks the scrawny, uniformed man in the back of the head and barks, "Are you getting any of this down, nerd?"

"Uh, S-s-sir yes Sir!" The intelligence officer stammered as he wrote the information down on his notepad, " 'Alien probe droids not taking aggressive action in absence of monster combatants.' "

"That's the exact thing I just said!" General Monger grumbled, "Why it is that they refer to you boys as 'military intelligence' I'll never understand!"

"Excuse me for asking, Sir," the intelligence operative asked nervously, "but those things are surely picking us up on their scanners, yet they're not attacking. However, according to Ginormica, the first one attacked a family without hesitation. Why?"

"Well, why don't you go out there and ask it?" General Monger suggested sarcastically.

"Really sir?" the intelligence officer asked, not picking up on his tone.

"No, you pea-brain!" Monger barked, "You're supposed to be observing them to find that out yourselves! Honestly, I have half a mind to send you back to the lab to pick apart unexploded artillery shells!"

"Yes Sir!" The officer said quickly, "I mean, no Sir! Sorry, Sir!"

Monger shook his head in disbelief as he went back to observing the droids' behavior through his binoculars, but he couldn't get over what the officer's question had suggested. Why had the first droid attacked that family when these two weren't attacking them? Was there something about that first incident that Ginormica hadn't shared?

* * *

Meanwhile, in geosynchronous orbit, the probe droids' masters observe from the safety of their cloaked ship.

"Where _are_ they!?" the female in the captain's chair said tensely, stroking the ridges running down the middle of the crown of her head in agitation, "The seeker droids should have engaged the monsters in battle already!"

"Maybe they're tired of constant battle and are taking a small break?" one smaller female suggested from her forward console.

" 'Tired of battle'? 'Taking a small break'!? Have your neural nodes gone completely dark!?" the leader roared at the technician who'd spoken and was now quailing under her leader's fury, "The monsters _live_ for battle! It says so in all of the humans' literature! I should expel you out of our airlock for your stupidity! If it weren't for your lazy programming, we would not have wasted a seeker launch on a small group of weak monster hatchlings!"

Throwing herself at her leader's feet, the technician begged, "I'm sorry, my liege! Please, forgive me!"

After a couple minutes of groveling, the leader consented, "Very well, I suppose it would be rather difficult to replace you at this point in the venture, so I'll spare you this time. Fail me again, however, and next time I will not be so merciful!"

Sobbing in relief, the technician backed away bowing as she said, "Thank you, my Liege, thank you!"

To the rest of the bridge, the leader asked, "Now, does anyone have any_ useful_ theories as to the monsters' absence?"

Hesitantly, a male data analysis suggested, "Uh, maybe they're off somewhere planning a counter-strike?"

The leader stroked her chin thoughtfully for a minute before her face was split in a feral smile as she said, "Yes! That must be it! The only reason the monsters would not be attacking is if they were planning a bigger attack: either trying to figure a way to get us up here, or planning to set up a trap for us down there! But we will not allow them to concoct such a plan, we will find and destroy their base of operations, crushing them once and for all! Technician! I want you to trace the radiation given off by their enormous leader, use that to locate where they're planning their attack!"

"But the shielding provided by her suit make it nearly impossible to detect except at close range!" the technician explained fearfully, "and the various forms of radiation that permeates their atmosphere…"

"Just do it!" the leader bellowed, "Unless you want to experience that spacewalk without a suit!"

"Yes sir!" the tech agreed in fright, "Right away, sir!"

"And recall the other seekers right away!" the leader commanded, "I've had enough of the human vermin gawking at them scanning for nothing! It's time to crush the Earth's only real defense against our rightful conquest of this world!"

* * *

The next morning, Susan woke up rather refreshed. Even with how comfortable the back of Butterflysaurus is, there was simply no substitute for a comfortable bed. Should she ever spend any real time at Area Fifty-something anymore, she'd have to get the General to requisition one for her "room".

Once she'd straightened out her hair , Susan stepped out of her room and was surprised to see Drac just passing by outside. "Oh, Count! Sorry, I didn't expect to see you there! I thought you guys slept at night."

"Hm?" Drac said as Susan caught his attention, "Oh! Good morning, Susan! Yeah, truth is that we vampires don't really need much sleep at all. Turns out that's a good thing too, as this Hotel and its varied guests keep me far to busy to get 6 hours of rest, much less 16."

As she joined Drac walking down the halls, Susan asked, "And the belief about you guys drinking blood?"

"Well, we do drink," Drac conceded, "but we prefer a blood substitute like Near Blood or Blood Beaters. Far more healthy than human blood. I mean, have you seen some of the things that they eat?" As Susan suppressed a chuckle, Drac continued, "Say, Susan, I was just thinking of offering you some breakfast. I was going to knock on your door to ask you, but I wasn't sure if you'd be up yet or not."

Smiling, Susan answered, "Sure. I am pretty hungry, some breakfast sounds pretty nice." Then she gestured for Drac to lead the way.

* * *

As she saw what courses were being offered in the dining room, Susan decided that maybe she wasn't that hungry after all. Apparently her friends felt differently, however, as they devoured course after course of the rather rancid and grotesque looking food.

"Morning, Susan!" Dr. Cockroach greeted her, "You have got to try some of this bubonic moose nose omelet! It's simply divine!"

"And I simply love this scream cheese bagel!" Bob said in between screeches from the white blob on his bagel, "I think I'll name it Calvin!"

"Say Drac," Link asked, "Is there any possibility that we can get a small container of this mouse jelly for when we leave?"

As Susan fought down a wave of nausea, Drac asked in concern, "Susan? Are you all right?"

_There's no way I could simply duck out of this after having said I'm hungry,_ Susan thought to herself, _Maybe I could share with him that little bit now as a means of explanation, maybe that would even make it easier to share the rest of it with him later. _ Aloud, she said, "Sorry about this, Drac. I do thank you for your hospitality, but the truth is I haven't been a monster all that long, so I have yet to acquire a taste for such….cuisine."

Wanda, who'd been nursing the triplets nearby, asked Susan, "If you haven't bee a monster long, what were you before that?"

"Well," Susan said uncomfortably, "up until a couple years ago, I was a human."

"Really!" Winnie, Wayne and Wanda's second youngest daughter said, sounding rather fascinated, "How'd you go from being human like Johnny to being a monster?"

Smiling at the little pup, Susan said to her, "Well, you see, I got hit by a radioactive meteor on my wedding day."

"Your 'wedding day'?" Drac said, sounding somewhat disappointed, "You're….married?"

Susan looked up, surprised at Drac's tone, before answering, "Oh, heavens no! The meteor put the kibosh on that, and thank goodness it did! Turns out that Derek was nothing more than a self-absorbed, selfish jerk! If it weren't for that wake-up call from the cosmos, I'd be the most miserable human on the planet!"

"Well I think you're nice!" Winnie said shortly before leaping up to give Susan a hug and a lick on the cheek. "Thanks for saving me and my family!" she said before letting go and joining her rowdy brothers at the dinner table.

"That goes for us all!" Wanda agreed gratefully, "I thank my lucky stars for the day that meteor found you, that you found us last night.

"Think nothing of it," Susan said smiling. Then with one last smile, Wanda grasped Susan's shoulder in gratitude, then turned and headed to join her family at the table.

"You know, Susan, we do have some human-style food here," Drac explained smiling warmly, "We keep it around for Jonathan: his pallet isn't geared the same as ours either. I could get the chefs to whip up something and have them bring it here."

Then, after Drac relayed the order through one of the armors, Susan joined him at the table.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Mavis was trying to get changed for the party, and she was becoming incredibly frustrated. Why, of all days, did she have to get such an incredible snarl in her hair!? It was so bad that now her hairbrush was stuck in it too! Failing once again to remove it, she growled and banger the top of her vanity table, causing the cosmetics to topple and roll around on it.

She was considering risking turning into a bat to see if that would dislodge her brush when there was a knock on her bedroom door. Turning and expecting to see either Johnny or her father, she was surprised to see Susan standing there instead. "I heard the commotion from in here," Susan explained, "Mind if I come in?"

Relieved that it wasn't her father or especially Johnny coming in and seeing her like this, Mavis groused, "Sure, that's fine,"

Hiding a small smile behind her hand, Susan asked, "Bad hair day?"

"Yeah," Mavis grumped, "Of all the birthday presents I could have gotten today, this is one I could have done without!"

Susan stood behind her, then Mavis could feel a tugging on the back of her head as she tried to get the brush out. "Wow, that's really stuck in there, isn't it? Here, let's try this."

Mavis felt Susan let go of the brush as she walked away, then as she turned she saw Susan turn her bed around without any trouble so that it was parallel to the wall rather than perpendicular to it. Then, as she sat Indian style in the newly cleared space, Susan concentrated and grew to three times her original size, her head just avoiding hitting the ceiling. Ginormica then patted her knee and said, "Here. Have a seat."

After Mavis sat on her lap as instructed, Ginormica grabbed the brush between her thumb and forefinger and pulled it free. Though there was a brief moment of pain as she pulled the brush past the tangle in her hair, the rest of the styling actually felt rather pleasant as well as achingly familiar, as if Mavis was remembering a sensation from a time that she had no real memories from. As she brushed, Ginormica said, "You know, I always imagined doing this with my own daughter, back when Derek and I were still engaged. Of course, I still had brown hair and wasn't 25 feet tall back then."

Mavis chuckled at this, and she could feel Ginormica rumble with a chuckle of her own as she paused her brushing and asked, "Which way are we going with this?"

"Straight up," Mavis answered, "There's some gel on that desk over there."

As Ginormica picked up the jar holding the hair gel, she asked, " 'Bride of Frankenstein' look?"

Mavis smiled as she said, "Yeah. Since this party's theme is a costume party, I'll be going as Aunt Eunice."

As she applied the gel and combed it into position, Ginormica said, "Well I think that you'll make a very lovely Mrs. Frankenstein."

"Thanks," Mavis said with a smile, "When I was growing up, Aunt Mavis was the closest thing to a mother-figure that I had, but now…"

"Yes?" Ginormica prompted.

"…well, I think that she's still a great aunt, but I think that you'd be a cool mom." Mavis finished.

For a moment, no one said anything as Ginormica continued to style Mavis' hair, so Mavis ended up getting startled when her right arm ended up soaked. Looking up, Mavis saw that a tear had leaked from Ginormica's right eye and trailed down her cheek until it dripped off her chin. "Oh! I'm sorry!" Mavis said apologetically, "I didn't mean to upset you!"

As Ginormica realized what prompted that reaction from Mavis, she replied as she dried her tears wit her free hand, "It's okay, you didn't upset me. I just found what you said rather moving, that's all. I'm sorry that my being emotional nearly ruined your look."

"It's cool," Mavis said with a warm grin, "no damage done!"

As Ginormica put the finishing touches on Mavis' hair, she said, "There, now all you need is hair color to finish it off, have a look….wait, I forgot: No reflection! I'm such an idiot!"

"It's okay," Mavis assured her, "that 'no reflection' business is just a silly human superstition anyway." As she applied bone powder to her hair to give it the streaked appearance, Mavis asked, "By the way, who are you going as?"

As she returned to her original size, Susan answered, "Well, I didn't really bring a change of clothes with me, much less a costume, so I guess I'll just go as myself."

Mavis then turned towards her and said with concern, "Well that won't do! Wait right here!" Then she turned into mist and zipped down the hall, returning seconds later and reformed, holding a long black dress with a cape, saying, "Here! Try this on!"

As Susan held it up in front of her as she stood before a mirror, she said, "It's beautiful! Where'd you find this?"

"It belonged to my mother," Mavis answered simply.

Suddenly looking like she should be handling it with surgical gloves, Susan turned quickly and tried to hand the dress back to Mavis as she said, "Oh no, I couldn't possibly…"

Pressing it more firmly back towards Susan, Mavis insisted, "Please, wear it tonight. I'm sure that Mom would want you to. I insist! Just remember that it doesn't stretch, so…"

"…no becoming Ginormica while I'm wearing it?" As Mavis answered with a nod and a smile, Susan laughed and said, "Then I accept your offer!" Turning back towards the mirror with the dress, Susan then asked, "You wouldn't by chance have any black hair dye, would you?"

* * *

As Griffin made his way through the haunted forest, the moonlight clearly illuminated his glasses and his suitcase, but nothing else about him, as usual. Still as he crested the top of the hill and caught sight of the hotel he sighed with relief. From the pulsating lights in one wing of the castle, it looked as though Mavis' birthday party was just starting. He was sorry he let himself get distracted at Key West and lost track of the time, but if he hurried he could still make it for cake and to perform with the guys.

As he jogged the remaining miles, Griffin found himself thinking about the other friends he left behind back in Area Fifty-Something all those years ago and how much they would have loved this place. He was sorry that he couldn't include them in his escape plan then, but there was no way it would've worked with them, and none of Dr. Cockroach's were working, so…

* * *

Back on the mothership, the technician turned to her leader and said, "My Liege, I have traced the unique energy signature given off by the monster known as Ginormica to a mountain range in the area the locals call Transylvania. The strong magnetic composition of the mountains will make navigating difficult, but I estimate that it will take only around two hours to reach their location."

"Very good. I may have a reason to keep you around after all!" The Leader said as she templed her hands, "Begin preparations for our assault! In two hours we will crush those monsters once and for all, and then the Earth will be ours for the taking!"

End of Chapter


	4. 4) Surprise!

**Surprise!**

As Drac looked around, he thought he finally understood why it was that humans liked dressing up as them. Everywhere he saw, his guests seem to be having a good time at this party having dressed as someone else, and even he felt a little livelier in his outfit: A sci-fi style costume with glow-in-the dark lines that reminded him of how Susan's suit looked when she grew or shrank. He saw Frank dressed up as Link, Wayne and Wanda dressed up as him and Martha, Murray dressed as….Drac guessed it was supposed to be a ghost?

Then there was Link dressed up as Frank and Dr. Cockroach dressed up as Murray. BOB came dressed up as a pirate: He even used an eye-patch for his costume. The only problem was that he'd insisted on wearing it over his only eye and wound up running into everyone, so Drac had to confiscate that part of his costume, promising he'd get it back once the party was over.

Then recently Johnny and Mavis came in: Johnny dressed once again as Johnnystein and Mavis looking something like Eunice. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Only a couple of people happened to be missing tonight. First was Griffin, who'd called earlier to say he was on his way, but is now unreachable. The other person currently not here was…

Drac smacked his head in disbelief._ How could I be such a chowderhead?_ Drac thought disparagingly, _In all my efforts to make preparations for this party, I completely forgot to get a costume for Susan! Where am I going to get a costume for her now at such short notice?_

Just as Drac had decided to go ask Jonathan for advice, the ballroom doors opened an Drac's jaw just about hit the floor. The person who entered looked so much like Martha that Drac thought he must be dreaming, then he saw that he wasn't the only one who had that reaction. In fact, nearly the only ones who didn't react to the newcomer as if they weren't seeing a ghost was Mavis, who gave the newcomer a smile and a thumbs up, and Susan's friends.

As the woman got closer, Drac could see subtle differences between this woman and Martha: her hair was straighter and not as wavy, her face wasn't as long or her chin as pointed, her lips were fuller, her eyes bluer. Then all the pieces suddenly came together in his head.

"Susan?" Drac said, "Is that you?"

Looking somewhat self-conscious, Susan said, "Your daughter insisted. I didn't really have anything else to wear."

_Of course she did,_ Drac thought to himself. Aloud, he replied, "It's okay, that's my fault. You do look lovely though."

"Thanks," Susan said shyly.

"How'd you do the hair and the fangs?" Drac asked despite himself.

"The hair I colored with some simple hair dye. I don't suppose it'll last long though: the Quantonium will burn it away just as it did my original coloring," Susan explained, "The hands were Mavis' baby fangs that she hag some spiders attach balls of webbing on so they may be attached to my own canines, though I imagine that I'll experience the same problem with stayability with them too. Still, I'm sure I'll be good for an hour or so."

As the Day of the Dead Mariachi Band start playing a slow song, Drac asks Susan, "Would you like to dance?"

Susan hesitated for a moment, appearing to struggle internally before saying with a smile, "Yeah, sure!"

As they settled into a slow waltz, Drac saw out of the corner of his eye Mavis, who was in a slow dance herself with Johnny, look at them and smile. What is it that she thinks she's seeing? Drac wondered. Still, as he looked into Susan's eyes, Drac couldn't deny that he felt a pull that he hadn't felt since he was with Martha. When he was with her, a spot in his chest that had been empty for the longest time now felt filled again. He still believed that it wasn't possible to Zing more than once in a lifetime, but he was starting to think that it may be possible to be happy again.

Before he could decide what he wanted to do with this new revelation, the ballroom door opened again and Griffin came through saying, "Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!"

Frank, Wayne and Murray all went over to confront their invisible friend. "Darn right you're late!" Frank said roughly, "Where have you been?"

"We couldn't play because you weren't here!" Murray said crossly, his arms on his hips.

"Don't you realize what went on outside just a moment ago, what nearly happened to me and the family!?" Wayne barked, "We were worried sick!"

Before the beleaguered Griffin could think of which question to answer first, Dr. Cockroach approached slowly, Link and BOB right behind, as he said with disbelief in his voice, "That voice! It can't be! Nick? Is that you?"

His glasses twinkling as he turned towards them in surprise, Griffin exclaimed as he rushed over to them, "Hey guys, you're here! I can't believe it! What are you guys doing here?"

"What are_ we_ doing….what are_ you_ doing_ alive!?_" Dr. Cockroach countered, "You died of a heart attack back in '86! I checked your pulse myself!"

"Aww, don't tell me that _you_ fell for that gag!" Griffin said, "I'd expected that the General might buy it, but not you! I just applied a bit of my invisibility formula to a mannequin that I sat in my chair, then I faked a heart attack while I rattled the chair a bit. Then I followed General Monger out to freedom!"

"Brilliant!" Dr. Cockroach exclaimed.

Drac, his mind whirling with the barrage of information he was getting, could only think to ask, " 'Nick'?"

"Hi Drac!" Griffin said, "Yeah, Nick is my first name: Dr. Nick Halloway Griffin, but I just go by Griffin these days." Turning back to Susan's friends, Griffin continued, "But never mind all that, How did you guys get out? I guess that not all of Dr. Cockroach's escape plans could end in abject failure!"

"Actually, they did. The General gave us release from our cells when we helped him fend off an invasion of hostile aliens!" Link said proudly, cracking his knuckles.

"No way! Get out of town!" Griffin exclaimed, "That was you guys!?"

"Actually, it was mostly Ginormica, that young lady dancing with Drac there!" Dr. Cockroach interjected, "I mean we did help a bit, particularly when she got captured by the alien leader, but our beating the aliens was 90% due to her."

"Yeah, I even got me a girlfriend out of it!" BOB added, "She's waiting for me to return to our cell at Area Fifty-Something!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Drac asked loudly in confusion, turning back and forth between Griffin and Susan's friends, "Government holding cells….escape plans….what is all of this?"

When Drac felt a gentle touch on his back, he turned to see Susan, a sad and somewhat guilty expression on her face as she asked, "Is there someplace private were we can go and talk?"

* * *

Drac felt his head spinning and his heart splintering and sinking though to the center of the Earth as, on the hotel roof, Susan told the whole story to him: from her wedding being interrupted by the meteor and her being locked up, to her working together with her captors to defeat the aliens, to (most importantly) her activities since Gallaxhar's final defeat.

"I don't know what to say about all this!" Drac said as be paced back and forth, agitated confusion with a hint of heartbreaking loss in his voice, "I built this place to provide a haven from those who would kill or lock up those of our kind, and now you're telling me that you're one of them?" Drac dropped to his knees and grasped one of her hands in both of his, a pleading look in his eyes as he said, "I don't know what to do with this!"

Susan started to open her mouth to defend herself, then closed it again having apparently thought better of it. Then she turned her sad gaze away as she said, "You don't have to do anything about it because you're right. I've been working with the humans in charge to keep the rest of the human race in the dark about the existence of monsters. As far as the rest of the human race knows, we're the only monsters around, and they only know about us due to our efforts to save the planet from alien invasion."

As she straightened up and turned back towards the roof access, her hand pulling free from Draks', Susan continued, "Speaking of which, I suppose it's time that we get back to work. Those aliens that attacked Wayne and the others are still a threat, after all."

Finding it too painful to look at her, Drac said in a voice that somehow managed to remain even despite his turbulent feelings, "Yes. It'd probably be for the best."

Then Susan led the way back into the hotel with Drac following at a removed distance.

* * *

Back in the ballroom, the party had yet to pick back up again before Susan reappeared in the doorway, her face and voice a carefully constructed mask that couldn't conceal the sadness in her eyes as she said, "Come on, guys. It's time for us to go back to work."

"Aww! We haven't even had any cake yet!" Bob complained.

Link and Dr. Cockroach, both of whom saw this look on Susan's face once before, understood that something bad had happened and that this wasn't the time to argue with her. As Link patted BOB on the back, Dr. Cockroach said consolingly, "Come on, BOB, let's go."

As the last of Susan's friends leave the room and Susan follows them out into the hall, Drac re-enters the room. Mavis, clearly upset by what was happening, asked, "Dad, just what is going on?"

Addressing the room at large, Drac said in a voice that was as grave as it was sad, "My friends, I'm afraid that I have some bad news for you. I'm sure that you all remember from one year ago that I'd convinced you all not to leave when I revealed that Jonny was a good person and admitted that I did not know if humans were bad anymore. While I still believe that Johnny is a good person, based on what I now know I cannot discount the possibility that some, if not many, humans are still bad."

"The truth is that the reason that the world has been so quiet and peaceful as far as our kind is concerned is because that the human race, as a whole, have been led by their governments to believe that we monsters do not exist. They've kept our secret by locking up those of us who threaten to expose it. I've learned all of this tonight from Susan, as she and her friends work for those people."

"No!" Wanda exclaimed in disbelief.

"Even if Susan and the others decide to keep this place a secret, the truth is that human technology is progressing so rapidly that her human allies could have tracked them to this location anyways." Drac continued, "The sad fact is that I can no longer guarantee this place as a safe haven from a human world that may still be hostile should they learn we're more than ink printed in horror novels."

"If you maintain the habit of remaining out of sight out there, then I believe you should be fine. However, for your own safety, It'd probably be best if you were to check out now. I thank you all for your loyalty, my friends, and hope that we may meet again one day."

As he finishes, the guests file out of the ballroom past him until only Mavis, Murray, Frank, Eunice, Griffin, Wayne, Wanda and their boys are remaining in the room with him.

"Dad! That can't be true!" Mavis said in disbelief, "You must have misunderstood what Susan was saying!"

"Susan told me everything, Mavy," Drac countered sadly, "There was little room for misunderstanding there."

"Drac, I'm sorry," Johnny said, "I guess I should be going too.

"Yes," Drac agreed, "And take Mavis with you."

"What?" Johnny said as Mavis countered, "Dad? No!"

"It's okay, my voodoo doll," Drac assured her, "I'm just going to remain behind to make sure everyone gets out okay, and that nothing is left behind that someone could use to track us down again. I'll rejoin you once I'm done here."

"Come on, Mavis," Johnny said gently as he led Mavis out of the ballroom and the others followed. Griffin lingered for a moment as if he wanted to say something, then he left the room as well.

* * *

As her friends had settled into their positions aboard Butterflysaurus, Susan was about to step on herself when she felt a piercing, needle like sensation running down her right leg that was almost painful, even for her. Looking down, she saw the young cub Winnie clinging to her right leg begging, "Please don't go, Miss Ginormica! Don't go!"

Smiling sadly at her, Susan gently disengaged Winnie from her leg as she said, "I have to go. I need to make sure that those big, bad aliens don't come back to hurt you or your family. Do you understand, little one?"

"No!" Winnie countered, hugging her werewolf doll tight.

"One day, you will," Susan assured her, then she kissed her on the forehead as she said, "Now you be good and mind your mother and father."

Feeling her façade breaking, Susan turned and stepped aboard Butterflysaurus. As she nudged him into the air, she finally let the tears she'd been holding back stream down her face as they flew through the air, not looking back even when Winnie started howling mournfully into the night. If she had looked back, she might have spotted Drac looking out one of the windows, a tear making its way down his own cheek.

* * *

As Butterflysaurus made his descent around half an hour later, Susan was glad that the speed of the flight had dried most of the tears from her face: the remaining wetness could simply be attributed to irritation from the wind. Emerging from his tent, General Monger greeting them, "Welcome back, Ginormi….what on earth are you guys wearing?"

Looking at herself and the others, Susan realized that they were still wearing the costumes from the party. Gently sliding the dress off and folding it carefully, Susan replied, "There was a costume party at the hotel we were at and we forgot to return them before we left. We'll deal with that later, What's the situation?"

"Turns out you hit the nail right on the head, Ginormica!" Monger answered, "Without you guys to fight them, those alien robo-storks just plum didn't know what to do with themselves. Afraid that we didn't get much useful information by watching them, other than they seem to want to fight you real bad. After looking around for you for a while, those droids just up and flew back the way they came."

Pretty much expecting this, Susan nodded and asked, "Anything else?"

"Yeah," agreed Monger, "Shortly after the droids left, short range radar picked up the Mothership tracing a path between here and coordinates 45.096 by 25.781."

Confused, Susan said, "I don't understand, we just came out from that way. There's nothing out there except…" Susan froze with a horror-struck expression on her face as the realization struck her, then she finished with a whisper, "…the hotel!"

Turning and sprinting back the way she came, Susan yelled, "Everyone get back on Butterflysaurus!"

"Wait!" General Monger hollered, "Where are you going?"

"We're going back!" Susan yelled back, already starting to change sizes as she urged Butterflysaurus to take flight, "I just pray we're not too late!"

* * *

As he finished making his rounds, Drac found that the guests and servants had taken his advice seriously. The only ones that were still here was himself and the suits of armor, who stalwartly refused to abandon their posts. And while many of them had left some luggage behind in their haste to leave, no one had left anything that would tell anyone less intelligent than Sherlock Holmes where they came from or where they're going.

Having satisfied himself that his guests were safe, there was only two places he had to visit one last time. The first was the room he used as his wife's memorial shrine, to say goodbye. The second was his daughter's room, to pack a few extra clothes for her, as well as some other things he thought she'd need. As he struggled to get the overstuffed suitcase closed, he heard from the doorway behind him, "Gee, dad, think I didn't pack myself well enough?"

Turning in surprise, Drac saw Mavis and Jonathan standing in the doorway. After gaping for a moment, Drac got out, "Mavis!? Jonathan, I thought I told you to get her out of here!"

"Yeah, you be a puny human trying to take a super-strong, shape-shifting vampire somewhere she doesn't want to go!" Johnny said with a slight smile, "She was worried you might take too long in here and get snatched up by some government goon squad. Truth be told, so was I!"

"That 'goon squad' is exactly why you kids can't be here right now!" Drac retorted, "You have to leave now! I'll be right behind you!"

"Johnny's right!" Mavis countered, "Neither he nor you can make me go anywhere I don't want to, and I'm not going anywhere without you!"

"Heh," Murray's voice piped up from behind Johnny and Mavis, "Glad to hear that I'm not the only one here that feels that way!"

Drac eyes bugged out as he saw, appearing out of the shadows of the darkened hallway, Murray, Frank, Eunice and Wayne step into position behind Johnny and Mavis. "What are you all doing here!?"

"Did you think that we were just going to leave you behind to save our own skins?" Frank said.

"We've been through too much together to do that!" continued Murray.

"Wanda wanted to come back in with me, but I convinced her to wait in the woods with the kids, promising I'd get you out of here even if I had to drag you out by the scruff of your neck!" Wayne added.

At that moment, Drac couldn't decide if he wanted to hug them all or strangle them each one by one. Before he could decide he heard an amplified voice from outside saying, "Attention all monsters! Come outside immediately with your hands in the air!"

Drac urgently whispered to the others, "You've got to get out of here now!"

"Not without you!" Mavis insisted.

Drac growled in exasperation as he whispered, "Fine, fine! Just stay out of sight and keep quiet!" He then approached the window as the voice said, "I repeat, all monsters exit the building now, or we'll destroy it with you inside!"

As he opened the window and stepped out on the balcony, he saw that the demands were not being issued from the humans he feared it was, but from a craft far stranger than anything he's ever seen. Drac concluded it must be the aliens Susan said she was fighting, the ones who sent the probe that came close to killing Wade and his family.

"You're not one of the ones I was wanting!" The voice complained, then one of the ship's cannons swung down on an arm, revealing a humanoid female at the controls. She might have looked human, but there were several things about her that seemed too alien for that: Her olive skin tone, the spike-like that ran around the perimeter and down the center of the bald crown of her head, and her pointed teeth. Gesturing wildly, she asked, "Where is the enormous female?"

_Of course!_ Drac thought,_ they're after Susan and the others! _ Not wanting to give in to the alien's demands, Drac said cordially, "If you're looking for Ms. Hydraberg, I regret to say that she checked out about an hour ago. I cannot say where she is now."

"I'm not looking for any 'Hydraberg'," the alien growled, "I'm seeking the platinum-haired female monster known as Ginormica! Where is she!?"

Looking as if he was trying to recall, Drac then said, "Nope, sorry! We haven't had any guests matching that description since this hotel was founded. I should know, since I'm the one who founded it."

"Don't play games with me!" the alien snarled, "Our readings show that she definitely was here! Now tell us where she is, or…"

Leaping down from the balcony, the cannon following his movement, Drac sincerely hoped that the other would make it out after he was gone as he said upon landing, "Madame, I can not tell you what I do not know, so if you're going to fire, then fire."

As the cannon started humming as it warmed up, Drac braced himself. Then he heard a voice off in the distance yelling, "Hold your fire!"

As he watched, Ginormica bounded over the nearest range of mountains and landed on the cliff near far side of the bridge with an impact that shook every window in the hotel and caused large ripples in the lake far below. "Don't shoot!" Ginormica repeated, "You want me, I'm here!"

"Really?" the alien said scornfully, "And why shouldn't I erase this annoying male from the universe?"

"Because if you spare him and this place, you'll get me without a fight," Susan said as she shrunk down and extended both arms out in front of her, "I'll surrender."

End of chapter


	5. 5) Reparations

**Reparation**

"What?" Drac and the alien leader say simultaneously, Drac in shock and the alien in disbelief.

"You heard me," Susan said to the alien, not looking over at Drac, "If you hold your fire, and you leave this place unharmed, I'll go with you as your prisoner."

"Oh really!" the alien leader scoffed, "And what's to stop me from destroying this place and taking you anyway?"

"I think you know better than that," Susan reasoned, "If you fire, then I'll never stop fighting you! Even if you run I would hunt you down, even if I had to steal a spaceship to do so! But if you spare these monsters, who are of no threat to you, then you get to go with your greatest enemy as your prize."

"Wait, Susan!" Dr. Cockroach said as Butterflysaurus got close enough, "What are you saying?"

"You think _you're_ my greatest enemy!?" the alien scoffed in disbelief.

"Yes," Susan stated, "Did you not often brag how you'd conquered ten planets with ease?"

"Twelve!" the alien leader corrected, "This will be my thirteenth!"

"And yet every attempt you've made to conquer this world I've stopped cold," Susan continued, "So yes, I do think that there's value to my capture."

After considering for a moment, the alien detached a pair of high tech cuffs from her belt and tossed them down to Susan, saying, "Put those on and board my vessel, and I will bring no harm to this man or his 'hotel'….at least not until after I've paraded your battered and broken body before your leaders and the conquest of this world is complete."

Drac watched in shock as Susan picked up the cuffs as Link protested, "Wait, Susan! Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure," Susan said to Link, then she turned to Drac as she said, "I'm sorry for the things I've done in the past, for having brought this war to your doorstep. I'm sorry if I've hurt you, I hope one day you can forgive me."

"Why are you doing this?" Drac asked, his voice breaking.

With a small, sad smile, Susan said calmly, "It's the right thing to do."

Within that moment, Drac had a burst of clarity. Before the hatch on the mothership was able to fully open, Drac turned into mist and zipped over to reform between Susan and the ship, facing it and spreading his arms wide as he said, "No!"

"Drac, what are you _doing!?_" Susan asked, her voice close to breaking.

"_I'm_ doing the right thing," Drac said over his shoulder, "what I should have done earlier: I'm choosing to believe in you! It should be impossible, it's only supposed to happen once, but you are my Zing!" Then he turned to the alien leader and said, "If you want Susan, you have to go through me!"

With a tremendous leap that cracked the stones beneath his feet, Frank went over by Drac's side and added, "And me!"

Then Johnny and Wayne rode down on Murray's sand wave with Mavis flying right behind to join Drac by his side, along with Susan's friends, as Wayne said, "And all of us!"

The alien leader appeared to hesitate for a moment before saying, "I have no problem with that."

Then the cannon started powering up again.

* * *

Susan watched in disbelief and horror as the events unfolded before her. She had chosen to sacrifice herself to save these monsters, these people that she had grown fond of, and now they were going to die in front of her. Even if she could break the cuffs in time, there was no way she'd be able to get everyone clear of the blast!

So fixed was her horrified gaze that she was able to spot a small object flying through the air and strike the alien leader in the head with a squeaking sound. It obviously didn't hurt her, but it did get her attention. The alien released the controls and allowed the cannon to fall dormant again as she picked up the offending object.

It was a plush werewolf doll.

"You leave Miss Ginormica alone!" Winnie screamed angrily.

In shock and surprise, Susan turned to follow the sound of the voice to see Winnie, angry and not scared at all, standing on the bridge glaring at the alien leader. As she watched, a horde of monsters came out of the shadows of the dark forest to add their angry voices to hers.

"Get off our planet!"  
"We're tired of seeing your ugly face!"  
"Find some other planet to take over!"  
"I'll tear you apart with all five of my heads!"

"Don't let them take you, Miss Ginormica!" Winnie pleaded determinedly, "Kick those aliens' butts!"

Pausing for only a second to wipe a tear of joy from her eye, Susan called out to the others, "Well, you heard the little lady…" Then she concentrated hard, causing the Quantonium to overload and short out the cuffs as she grew back to full size as Ginormica finished, "…let's kick those aliens' butts!"

Then the alien leader caused the cannon to quickly retract into the body of the ship as Ginormica charged forward and hit the ship with a tremendous haymaker.

* * *

Back on the outskirts of town, the overweight Dracula fan is speaking with his Frankenstein-loving friend.

"Where do you suppose they're at?" the pseudo-Frankenstein asked.

"Do you suppose that the party ran late?" a woman dressed as a zombie asked.

"But the sun's about to come up," the pseudo-Dracula worried, "Drac wouldn't be able to come out when the sun's up!"

"Something must have happened," a werewolf fan chimed in, "but what?"

As if in answer, an enormous spacecraft hit the ground around 50 yards ahead of them, plowing a huge furlough for another 25. Then they felt the rumble of enormous footsteps and heard the flapping of gigantic wings. Turning towards the sound, the pseudo-Zombie girl cried out excitedly, "Oh my goodness, I can't believe it! It's Ginormica!"

"And Butterflysaurus!" The pseudo-Frank exclaimed, "And Link, BOB, and Dr. Cockroach!"

"And there's Drac….dressed up as Ginormica?" The pseudo-Drac said.

"And there's Frankenstein dressed as the Creature From the Black Lagoon!" another Dracula fan exclaimed, "And Wolfman dressed up as Dracula! I can't believe it, you guys, they made it! They brought their party to us!"

As they watched, the craft lifted off again and a hatch opened just as Ginormica reached it, causing dozens of human-sized robots to pour out and start attacking the other monsters.

"Uh guys, I don't think that the aliens were invited to the party," the pseudo-werewolf said with a troubled tone.

"What do we do?" the zombie girl asked fretfully.

"Well I'm certainly not going to stand around doing nothing!" The first Drac fan said determinedly, "Come on!"

* * *

As Drac and the others exited the Haunted Forest, Drac saw Ginormica grappling with the Mothership and he was amazed at just how strong she was. Even though the ship was easily 6-8 times as big as her, she was still holding her own. However, it seemed that the engines of the ship were a match for her strength. It was a standoff, and judging by the fact that the ship's cannon appeared to be trying to aim at her, the aliens were seeking to end that standoff.

As Drac was getting ready to lend Ginormica a hand, a swarm of alien robots attacked him and his friends. While he was able to deal with the ones who attacked him easily enough, it was clear that many of his friends were in trouble, which put him in a conundrum: does he go help Susan, or should he aid his friends instead? There wasn't enough time to do both!

As he was caught in this dilemma, he heard a commotion that caused him to whirl around. Behind him he saw a crowd gathered, many of whom he recognized from his unexpected visit to the Monster Festival one year ago. Only this time they ware all armed with real torches and pitchforks, and they all looked real angry! "Get them!" the overweight Drac fan yelled, and while his eyes saw the fans that claimed to love him and his friends last year, his mind saw the angry mob that attacked his home and killed his Martha over 100 years ago!

Stuck in his mental paradox, Drac barely noticed as the armed (and costumed) mob rushed past him. Only when he realized that none of them had tried to stake him or set him on fire did he spin back the direction that they ran, and found himself stunned again: the mob of fans were helping his friends attack the robots! They were jamming the pitchforks into the joints to pry off limbs, thrusting the lit torches into the exposed wiring, or just holding them still while the bigger and stronger monsters finished them off. As Drac watched, the Drac fanboy he met last year called back to him saying, "We've got these guys! You just go help Ginormica, bla bla bla!"

Feeling his eyes tearing up, Drac thought, _This is the second time I'm finding myself grateful to these crazy humans!_ as he transformed himself into a bat and flew up to the ship.

* * *

Inside the ship, the alien leader was savoring her moment of triumph, her finger lingering over the button to fire the ship's cannon.

"At this range, I cannot miss!" The alien chortled, "One little shot, and the Earth's resistance will be broken!"

"Unfortunately," Drac said, having drifted through the seams in the main hatch's seal as mist and reforming some distance behind her, "that is one shot you will not be taking."

The leader, who'd spun around at the sound of Drac's voice, now chuckled and asked, "And who's going to stop me? You?"

"That's right," Drac confirmed.

"Give it up!" the alien leader said derisively, "There's no way you could overpower me!"

"You may be right," Drac conceded, "I may not be as strong as Ginormica or even as Frank, and I have no idea just how strong you are. And while I may be able to completely drain you of blood, as far as I know your blood may prove to be poisonous to me, and you'd still have the strength to activate your weapon. But I don't need to do either of those things to stop you, all I need is for you to look deep into my eyes!"

As Drac's eyes light up red, the alien leader scoffed, "Do you really think your pathetic power will work….on…"

"You are in my power!" Drac intoned.

"I am in your power," the alien replied in monotone.

"You will power down your weapon and recall all your robots immediately!" Drac commanded.

"I will power down the weapon and have all robots recalled immediately," agreed the alien leader, who then input the commands to do so.

"You will…" Drac started to say, then trailed off.

"…erase from the ship's computers all records of this solar system's existence." whispered helpfully the alien technician from her hiding place under her console.

"Thanks!" Drac whispered back, then speaking again in the commanding tone, "You will erase from your ship's computers all records of this solar system's existence and forget everything that's transpired here."

"I will erase from the ship's computers all records of this system's existence and forget I was ever here," the alien leader complied.

As the alien technician opened the main hatch behind them and jumped from it, Drac commanded the leader, "Now leave this galaxy, and never return!"

As soon as Drac had changed into a bat and flew out the hatch, the hatch shut behind him and the ship took off at high speed to vanish into the distance, accompanied by the loud cheers of everyone present. In that one instant, everything was perfect.

And then the sun rose up from behind the mountains.

Caught in the sudden glare of the sunrise, Drac could think of nothing but the pain the light brought. Then the pain went away again as a new object obscured the sun. Blinking his eyes to clear them, Drac saw a broadly smiling Ginormica, who was already holding Mavis in her protective embrace, standing between him and the sun. Then the shade grew even bigger as Butterflysaurus flew in close and warbled triumphantly. Smiling up at her, Drac said fondly, "Come on, Susan, let's go home!"

* * *

Back at the hotel, Winnie sniffed, "Are you really going away again?"

Susan smiled warmly down at the little cub as she said, "Yes, but this time I promise that I'll be back soon."

"Pinkie promise?" Winnie asked, extending her pinkie towards Susan.

"Pinkie promise!" Susan confirmed as she wrapped her pinkie around Winnie's. Then Winnie licked Susan's cheek and ran back to her mother.

Straightening back up, Susan said to Drac, "So I talked to Monger, and he's agreed to begin releasing the monsters we've rounded up into the Haunted Forest nearby, making sure to guide them in this direction. We have to do it in small stages, so as to not arouse the suspicions of the locals here, but any new monsters we prevent from causing a disaster will be brought directly here."

"We'll make sure to get them well acclimated to this life," Drac confirmed, "What of the alien who helped me on the ship?"

"After she explained how she was mistreated by her leader, General Monger agreed to let her work with us," Susan explained, "She and Dr. Cockroach are already hitting it off, so much so that now Link is asking when he'll get a partner!"

After chuckling once, Drac asked, "So where are you going now?"

"There's a small farming community in Kansas that was just devastated by a severe meteor shower," Susan answered, "The General is concerned that such an intense shower may have allowed a small alien scout ship to slip into Earth airspace undetected, so we need to check it out. Also, he's certain that the meteors have radioactive properties that are similar to the one that hit me two years ago, so we need to make sure that no harm comes to those people as a result of it."

"Sounds like you're going to be real busy," Drac said, "Are you sure you'll be able to come back to visit?"

"Are you kidding?" Susan laughed as she wrapped her arms around the Count, "This is my first Zing as a monster, you think I'm just going to give that up?" Then she pulled him into a deep kiss, one that lasted so long that General Monger called back from his position on Butterflysaurus, "Hey, you two, wrap it up! The Heartland awaits!"

As Susan released him and started backing towards Butterflysaurus, Drac called out, "Come back soon!"

"Always!" Susan said back, smiling, then she turned back around and settled into position on Butterflysaurus just as it took off. As Drac watched it disappear over the horizon, Drac felt a familiar pain in his chest, but it was notably less intense than it was before. Possibly because he knew she would keep her promise to return, no matter what adventures awaited her among the farms of Kansas. Perhaps one day she'll be able to return for good, but until then he'll make sure that there's always a room waiting for her at his hotel.

End of story


End file.
